Replacing grass with artificial or synthetic turf provides several advantages, such as greatly reducing the need for lawn maintenance and eliminating the use of water for lawn irrigation. Synthetic turf is typically fabricated with an upward-facing synthetic green grass face formed by tufts of grass and a downward-facing backing or understructure that supports the synthetic tufts of the grass face. The grass tufts may include additional thatch tufts. Tuft spaces, which are disposed between the grass tufts, typically receive an infill material during installation of the synthetic turf.
To install the synthetic turf, the turf area is prepared, and then one or more sections of synthetic turf are joined to cover the turf area. In most installation, the final step is to apply the infill. The infill is used to support the grass filaments and tuffs, to add dimensional stability, to provide a more realistic appearance, and/or to increase safety for sports players using a turf sports field.
Different types of infill are available to meet the requirements of the particular installation. Silica sand may be used in low traffic areas. A rubber and sand mixture may be used on medium traffic areas and commercial installations. Particulate or pelletized rubber or “crumb rubber” (which may be derived from scrap, recycled vehicle tires) is often used for synthetic turf sports fields to provide shock absorption, to enhance traction, to add ballast, and to protect the players from injury. For example, sports organizations require the hardness of sports fields to be less than 200 Gmax, which is achieved by using pelletized rubber. Other infill combinations and variations are available, such as acrylic-coated silica sand, organic mineral infill, and various elastomer infills.
For large synthetic turf fields, such as sports fields, tractors may spread the infill and pull a rear-attached powered brushing or raking attachment to level the infill and to incorporate it into the spaces between the tufts. However, in lawns and other smaller areas a manually-powered drop spreader is commonly used to apply the infill material (typically 1-2 pounds per square foot) onto the turf. The infill material is placed inside the drop spreader bucket, the dispenser gauge is set appropriately, and multiple passes are made to achieve an even distribution. Between each pass the synthetic grass fibers are manually brushed with a stiff bristled industrial broom, carpet rake, power broom, or the like to incorporate the infill into the synthetic turf. The dispensing and brushing steps are repeated until the infill material is evenly spread and incorporated to the prescribed depth.
This standard method of infill installation is less than desirable, because of the time and labor required for each of the manual infill dispensing steps and the separate manual infill brushing steps. Accordingly, there is a need for a device and method of use that will reduce the time and labor required during installation of turf infill.